The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed stark global inequities, fragilities, and unsustainable practices that pre-date this pandemic and have intensified its impact. Not only has it disrupted the flow of goods and people, but it has also reintroduced the longstanding flaws and issues within our public health system, especially in the Philippines. 

Recovering better from COVID-19 will depend on serious efforts to strengthen health systems, shore up social protections, protect economic opportunities, bolster multilateral collaboration, and enhance social cohesion. Yet, given the scale of action needed, the socioeconomic recovery from COVID-19 also provides a historic opportunity to reimagine societies using a social science lens and initiate the transformative changes necessary to achieve a better and brighter future.

When it comes to the social science view to prevent and control future pandemics, an understanding of the evolving role of politics, international relations, global health, economics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and ethics has been suggested as meriting urgent consideration by expert researchers. Insights from the full range of social disciplines, including global health, are needed now more than ever. Faced with pressing challenges and limited resources, governments urgently need robust evidence to inform critical policy decisions. While medical science has been front and center of the response to the virus, social scientists have an influential role in our recovery.